JOHN E. LAWRENCE

Waiting in his car at the airport, John E. Lawrence listens to a tune by Jeff Lorber, an artist he greatly admires. Then the car door opens, and Jeff Lorber steps inside. Fifteen years later, the two musicians are reuniting in Ypsilanti for the John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Concert Series, taking place Friday evenings from July 1 to Sept. 2. Previously called the Frog Island Jazz Concert Series, the event has rebranded and is moving to a larger venue at Ford Lake Park, 9075 S. Huron River Drive. However, he said, the highlight for this year’s concert series will be performing “Leather Jacket,” a new jazz single to be released on July 5.

Renamed the John E. Lawrence Summer Jazz Concert Series, the Ypsilanti concert series returns this summer.

YPSILANTI, MI -- The sixth-annual luminary festival in Ypsilanti will be “bigger and better and glowier” than ever before, according to organizers of the festival. YpsiGLOW, organized and hosted by WonderFool Productions, is 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in downtown Ypsilanti. Ypsilanti jazz musician John E. Lawrence will perform on a glowed-up stage in Riverside Park from 7 to 9 p.m. Other YpsiGLOW features include lighted landmarks, such as the Riverside Park pedestrian “tridge,” the Ypsilanti District Library downtown plaza and the Ypsilanti water tower. The festival is suspending its in-person luminary costume workshop this year due to the ongoing pandemic, Goulet said.

It was an all hands on deck effort this past weekend to repair a Black Lives Matter mural that was defaced in September in Ypsilanti.

Ypsilanti residents gathered Saturday for a “Peace Day” of community healing in response to last week’s vandalization of a city-approved Black Lives Matter mural with white supremacist graffiti. The event Saturday included live music from jazz musician John E. Lawrence, whose summer concert series attracted thousands to the park, as well as Athena Johnson and the Ypsilanti Community High School choir. Speakers included Duckworth and Stone as well as the Rev. Michael Robinson, senior pastor of Ypsilanti Community Church, Shelley Holt of Leadership Legacy Consulting and community activist Gail Summerhill. The prosecutor said the vandalism of the mural is under investigation, and his office is committed to bringing forth hate crime charges should the evidence support them.

Fact: We could all use a bit more jazz in our lives. Thankfully, guitarist, recording artist, and retired instructor John E. Lawrence is bringing the...